Method and apparatus for conveying materials

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for pumping concrete including a working chamber, a hopper connected to the top of the chamber, an intermediate container connected to the bottom of the chamber and including a piston for drawing the material from the hopper into the chamber, a pump cylinder connected to the chamber including a piston for drawing material from the chamber into the cylinder and for pumping the material to the discharge pipe, and a sleeve mounted for axial movement through the chamber to connect the pump cylinder to the discharge pipe. A vibrator is provided on the casing of the discharge pipe and a clamping ring is provided at the entry to the pump cylinder to engage the sleeve when it has been in operative engagement with the pump cylinder.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Bechtold Freiherr Von Und Zu Massenba h 2,986,099 5/1961 Guptill, Jr 103/227 X CPI-8777 Diesbach/GL, Chalet Ahorn, 2,448,104 1/1928 Longenecker 103/227 X Switzerland FOREIGN PATENTS [211 APPI-NQ 799,146 1 181549 12 1964 o 103 153 Filed Jan 21, 1969 ermany .1 [45] Patented June 29, 1971 Primary Examir1erEvon C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-H. 5. Lane Attorney-Lieber & Nilles [54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING MATERIALS 15 claims, 5 Drawing Fig, ABSTRACT: An apparatus for pumpingdconcrete including a 1 working chamber, a hopper connecte to the top of the [52] US. Cl 222/146, chamber, an intermediate container conneced to the bottom I I 222/196 222/334 222/383 417/457 417/900 ofthe chamber and including a piston for drawing the material [5 I] If. C .t from the pp into the chamber, a p p cylinder connected Field of Search to the chamber including a piston f i g material f 381, 380,334, 1461i, 196, 103/16.6, 227 C, 1 the chamber into the cylinder and for pumping the material to 230/223 417/457 339 the discharge pipe, and a sleeve mounted for axial movement 6 through the chamber to connect the pump cylinder to the [5 1 References Cited discharge pipe. A vibrator is provided on the casing of the UNITED STATES PATENTS discharge pipe and a clamping ring is provided at the entry to 1,656,911 1/1928 Elsenhauer 103/227 X th pump cylinder to engage the sleeve when it has been in 2,667,341 2/l 4 M der 103/158 X operative engagement with the pump cylinder.

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l N V E N TO RI Bechtold Freiherr von und zu Massenbach y Attorney METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING MATERIALS The invention relates to a method for the conveying of semifluid materials in particular concrete and lime mortar.

The invention also has as its subject matter an apparatus for the carrying out of this method. Such apparatus is generally known as a concrete pump. Building activity has increased in recent times and concrete is the forefront of building materials. There has therefore been no lack of attempts to rationalize the conveying of building materials in semifluid form in which the main effort has been directed to eliminating as far as possible manual work. Numerous suggestions have aimed at conveying the completely prepared building materials in particular cast concrete for above-ground building by means of a pump through pipes. Apart from the fact that the known pumps are very expensive and are subject to a high degree of wear in operation it is only possible by these means to convey a concrete rich in water, that is, one with a high water-cement ratio in which the coarsest sand grain has a diameter of at the most mm. For reasons of the static strength of the hardened concrete it is however desirable to use in building above ground a concrete with a low water-cement ratio in which sand and gravel with a larger grain diameter of more than mm. is used. in conveying such a very stiff concrete extremely heavy demands are made on the working capacity of a pump and it has therefore been progressed among other things to protect the valves in a similar manner to that for stone crushers, so that the power requirement of the pump increases substantially and in addition the size of the grain in the concrete is varied in uncontrollable manner by the valve clearance. In addition, the high expenditure of energy leads to the fact that the concrete in the pump is'excessively heated causing the water cement ratio to vary disadvantageously.

One object of the invention is to facilitate by the use of a new pump procedure the conveying of stiff concrete through pipes in constructions above ground. A further object of the invention is to render possible the pumping of concrete with sand grains of more than 35 mm. diameter with substantially less energy requirement than was necessary with known concrete pumps. I

A further object of the invention is to pump semifluid building materials during the pumping operation so that the conveying of same can be carried out independently of the time of the year with approximately uniform expenditure of energy.

It is a further object of the invention to use a cement pump having a small energy consumption in which the parts have a small amount of wear and in which worn parts can easily be exchanged.

The method according to the invention is characterized in that the material to be conveyed is drawn through at least one filling opening then into a filling space or intermediate container and from there into a conveyor space and that subsequently to an axially movable pipe connected to the conveyor space with the material to be conveyed located in the conveyor space pressed through an outlet into the conveyor pipe. I

It is advantageous for the material to be conveyed to be drawn in at least two streams simultaneously through one and the same opening into the conveyor space, the outlet being atfixed to the opening which connects the conveyor space to a conveyor pipe and the material to be conveyed pressed out of the conveyor space through this outlet into the conveyor pipe.

Due to the fact that with this method the concrete is drawn into the conveyor space in several streams flowing adjacent one another the suction operation is substantially facilitated.

Although the method can be carried out such that streams of the material to be conveyed can be fed simultaneously from several supply containers to the conveyor space, according to one embodiment one can advantageously proceed such that the supply is kept only in a single container and the material to be conveyed is fed to the conveyor space on the one hand from this supply container and on the other hand simultane-' ously from at least one intermediate container.

For simplicity the case will be described in which only a single intermediate container is provided. In this case first of all the intermediate container is filled from a supply container and thereupon from each of the two containers a stream of material to be conveyed into the conveyor space is simultaneously sucked in during which the intermediate container is substantially emptied. Although the filling of the intermediate container from the supply container can be effected in any desired manner by hand or mechanically it is however preferred to carry out this step of the procedure such that the material to be conveyed is sucked from the supply container into the intermediate container.

This procedure can be substantially facilitated by arranging the intermediate container substantially below the supply container so that the filling of the intermediate container is effected at least partially under the action of gravity whereby the suction work is considerably reduced in the drawing of the material to be conveyed into the conveyor space.

With this method of operation the sucking-in of the material to be conveyed into the conveyor space is carried out in a very advantageous manner in which the material to be conveyed from the supply container in the form of a column of material rests on the material to be conveyed into the intermediate container and is carried away by the latter material to be conveyed and taken along into the conveyor space during the suction. Due to the pressing out of the material to be conveyed from the intermediate container during the filling period of the conveyor space, under the action of gravity and because of the viscosity of the material to be conveyed without any further support from outside simultaneously a stream of material is guided from the intermediate container and a stream of material from the supply container, into the conveyor space by a suction action obtained in the conveyor space in a manner described later in more detail. Experiments have shown that during this filling period of the conveyor space the pressure operation expended in the intermediate container and the suction operation expended in the conveyor space may be adjusted to one another by simple small-scale tests so that the whole consumption of energy is substantially lower than it would be with the filling of the conveyor space by mere suction thereinto.

The conveying period of the method according to the inventor is initiated as already stated on the opening of the filled conveyor space to which a tube is connected which connects the conveyor space to a conveyor pipe. As a connecting pipe according to a particular embodiment a sleeve of a sleeve valve is employed and then by the method according to the inventor firstly a portion of the material to be conveyed located in the supply container is sucked into the intermediate container then this portion of the material to be conveyed is pressed out again from the intermediate container and simultaneously together with further material to be conveyed is sucked from the supply container into the conveyor space until this is filled; the sleeve of a sleeve valve connects with the filling opening of the filled conveyor space the fixed closure body of which pipe is disposed at the entry of the conveyor pipe and the material to be conveyed is pressed from the conveyor space into the sleeve valve whereby at the same time further material to be conveyed which is already located in the sleeve valve is pressed out of the closure body of the sleeve valve into the conveyor pipe and is vibrated on passing the closure member. Due to the last-mentioned vibration an accumulation of material at the entry to the conveyor pipe in the area of the closure member of the sleeve valve is efiectively obviated.

The method can be easily rendered independent of seasonal temperature influences in that according to a further embodiment the material to be conveyed is conditioned in the supply container.

In addition the material to be conveyed cal also be conditioned in the sleeve valve.

For the conditioning of the material to be conveyed there is used advantageously a pressure medium, preferably water which is led into the circuit and actuated periodically by hydraulic means which causes the movement of the material to be conveyed in the intermediate container and in the conveyor space as well as the movement of the sleeve of the sleeve valve.

Due to the exchange of heat of this water circuit the material to be conveyed is cooled in summer and heated in winter. The temperature of this water because of the pressure work which it provides is slightly above the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere.

In carrying out the method according to the invention any suitable apparatus may be used which permits of carrying out individual or all of the steps of the method hereinbefore set out. For the carrying out of the method according to the invention however use is made of an apparatus which carries out automatically in sequence all the steps of the method and which is essentially characteristic in that in the area between a supply container formed as a hopper and an intermediate container thereunder formed as an upright cylinder with a piston, is disposed the opening of a conveyor space formed as a cylinder with a piston whereby between the said opening and a conveyor pipe there are located a pipe of substantially the same inner diameter as the conveyor cylinder and guided in the casing as well as a clamping ring for the fixing of the pipe during'the conveying stroke and if necessary a vibrator on the outside of the said casing.

Details and embodiments of this apparatus are described in more detail in the accompanying drawings showing one embodiment:

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows a concrete pump in longitudinal section,

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show individual phases of movement of the concrete pump in carrying out the method according to the invention,

FIG. 5 shows a section on line 5-5 of FIG. 1 wherein the movable parts of the pump are shown in a further phase of movement and FIG. 6 shows a detail of FIG. 1 in enlarged representation.

As shown in FIG. 1 the concrete pump according to the invention has a filling hopper l which is surrounded by a water jacket 2. The filling hopper 1 is located to discharge into a filling shaft 3.

Under the filling outlet 3 from the hopper l and disposed coaxial with the hopper 1 an intermediate container 4 is located housing a piston 6 on a rod 5 which under the action of a pressure medium, in particular pressure water, which feeds and discharges by means of electrically controlled rapid closing valves, namely by means ofa flow valve 7 and an outlet valve 8 which are disposed in the pipes 9 and 10. On the bottom 11 of the intermediate container 4 there is mounted an electric switch 12 the switch pin 13 of which is guided through the floor 11 and is actuated by the piston 6.

A conveyor cylinder 14 with its inlet 15 is mounted laterally on the filling 3 such that its axis is substantially at right angles to the axis of the intermediate container 4.

A concrete pump according to the invention for very large output may have several, for example two intermediate containers which are then advantageously so disposed that their axes be in a plane common to the axis of the filling outlet 3 which is perpendicular to the axis of the conveyor cylinder 14.

A conveyor piston 16 which for its forward and backward movement in the direction of conveying is driven in a manner to be described later slides in the conveyor cylinder 14.

As already stated an essential feature of the invention is the fact that connected to the conveyor cylinder 14 as soon as it is filled with material to be conveyed is a pipe which connects the conveyor cylinder 14 to a conveyor pipe 17. In the embodiment illustrated the connecting pipe is formed as a pipe 18 of a sleeve valve which is located in the casing disposed between the hopper outlet 3 and the conveyor pipe 17 and composed of several parts 19, 20, 21 and is arranged on the opposite side of the hopper shaft 3 and coaxial with the conveyor cylinder 14.

The pipe 18 is provided with an annular hydraulic piston 22 which is slidably mounted in a hydraulic cylinder 19 with sealing slide bearings 23, 24 for the slide pipe 18 forming a part of the sleeve valve. A .pressure medium is admitted to the hydraulic piston 22 through pipes 25, 26, 27, 28 which lead into the hydraulic cylinder 19 and are provided with built in rapid closing valves 29, 30, 31, 32. A filling space 3 is formed between the hopper outlet 3 the intermediate container 4, the conveyor cylinder 14 and the hydraulic cylinder 19. At the forward end the sleeve valve has a closure cone 33 which is normally formed hollow and is supported between the two conical members 20 and 21 of the casing by connection members 34, 35 held in tension.

On the conical members 21 of the casing connected to the conveyor pipe 17 are welded two annular plates 36, 37 which are connected to one another at several places by cross members 38 and carry a table 39 on which a vibrator 40 is mounted.

For affixing the pipe 18 on the mouth 15 of the conveyor cylinder 14 of the pump, preferably directly in front of the mouth 15 a clamping ring 41 is arranged which is clamped onto an annular casing 43 located between the hopper outlet 3 and the front ofa sealing muff 42 of the conveyor cylinder 14.

A radial section through the clamping ring 41 is shown enlarged in FIG. 6 in which the clamping ring 41 consists of a packing member 44 of resilient material preferably of rubber having a reinforcing ring 45 of metal of H-shaped cross section which has openings 47 in its cylindricalbridgepiece 46, Pressure may be admitted to the clamping ring 41 via a pipe 48 through a valve 49 and relieved from pressure via a pipe 50 with a valve 51.

By means of a strap 52 or via any other suitable manner there is fixed on the conveyor piston 16 a traction band 53 of steel one end of which is affixed to a reel 54. The latter is mounted in a sealing manner with a driving shaft 55 in a wind ing chamber 56 which has a rear sealing sleeve 57 for receiving the rear end of the conveyor cylinder 14.

Outside the winding chamber 56 there is located on the shaft 55 driven by a motor 58 via a gearing 59 a chain wheel 60 which drives a switch and control chain 62 placed over a tension wheel 61. On the chain are located actuating members, for example, stop pins 63 which switch on and off, switches 64 of which only one is shown in the drawing for simplicitys sake. By means of these switches 64 and of the switch 12 already referred to and rapid closing valves (hereinafter described) of the concrete pump control of the apparatus is obtained.

Through a pipe 65 with a valve 66 pressure medium can be fed to the winding chamber 56 and to conveyor cylinders 14 whilst a relieving of pressure is possible via a pipe 67 with valve 68. The concrete pump is set up in an inclined position in a frame 69 whereby the conveyor outlet lies higher than the conveyor cylinder. There is suitably located in the frame 69 a pressure medium pump preferably a centrifugal pump 70 together with its drive which maintains a pressure medium circuit both in the pipe 72 and pipe 73 provided with a valve 71 and as already described in the water jacket 2 of the filling hopper 1.

In order to be able to detach from one another and assemble quickly the individual parts of the concrete pump according to the invention, according to FIG. 5 the conveyor cylinder 14 is clamped with clamping rods 74 between the already mentioned sealing sleeves 42 and 57 whilst the casing of the sleeve valve is held together by means of tie rods 75.

The pump according to the invention may be designed in known manner per so also as a twin pump whereby it is possi ble to set the pump clearance such that the filling and convey ing periods of the two systems mutually overlap so that a sub stantially continuous conveying in the conveyor pipe occurs. The method according to the invention is realized as follows by means of the embodiment of the concrete pump described:

In the movement phase illustrated in FIG. 1 the pipe 18 lies on the stationary closure cone 33 of the sleeve valve and thereby closes the pump against the conveying pipe 17. The piston 6 of the intermediate container 4 is in its upper dead center position and the conveying piston 16 of the conveyor cylinder 14 in its forward dead center position.

Material to be conveyed introduced into the filling hopper I and the filling space 3' is now sucked into the intermediate container 4 in that with unaltered position of the pipe 18 and of the conveyor piston 16 the piston 6 is moved to its lower dead center as illustrated in FIG. 2.

The material to be conveyed is then forced out of the intermediate container 4 and at the same time a supply from the supply hopper 1 is sucked into the conveyor cylinder 14 until the piston 6 has again reached its upper dead center whereby the conveyor piston 16 is moved to its rear dead center position whilst the valve pipe 18 still contacts the closure cone 33. This movement phase is illustrated in FIG. 3.

The pipe 18 is now connected to the conveyor cylinder 14 and in this position is held by the clamping ring 41 during the conveying period of the pump. This movement phase is illustrated in FIG. 4.

The material to be conveyed is now pushed by the conveyor piston 16 from the conveyor cylinder 14 into the pipe 18 and through same until the conveyor piston 16 has again reached its front dead center as illustrated in FIG. 5.

During the conveying period the material to be conveyed pushed out of the conveying cylinder 14 pushes that material forward which has remained from the previous conveying period in the pipe and in the area of the closure cone 33. This material to be conveyed has the tendency upon' passing the closure cone 33 and upon entering the conveyor pipe 17 to separate off water and to stop up the pipe passage. Such a stopping up is effectively prevented during the conveying period of the pump as the vibrator 40 operates and shakes the material to be conveyed in the area of the closure cone 33 and at the entry to the conveyor pipe 17. This shaking movement must be started directly with the commencement of the conveying period or just before as with a belated starting there may be a segregation of the material to be conveyed.

As soon as the conveying period is terminated and the position of the movable parts of the pump illustrated in FIG. 5 is reached the vibrator is stopped. The vibrator is only run again on commencing of the next conveying period of the pump.

It is understood that the movements of the piston 6 and 16 as well as of the pipe 18 according to. FIG. 1 take place with the assistance of pressure water whereby the changing over procedures of the rapid closing valves illustrated are effected on the bases of signals of the switches 64 and 12. These switch procedures are understood by the expert. They do not represent a constituent part of theinvention and therefore do not have to be described in detail herein.

Instead of returning the conveyor piston 16 by means of a reel 54 which is driven by the motor from its position shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 into the position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 there is also the possibility of connecting the traction band 53 to an additional piston operable hydraulically or pneumatically which drives the return movement of the piston 16.

In addition it is also possible in particular for the pumping or conveying of homogenous materials with this method to provide in the intermediate container 4, instead of the piston 6 a diaphragm which carries out the functions of the piston 6, the geometrical shape of the intermediate container 4 would then have to be constructed correspondingly similar to known diaphragm pumps.

It is obvious that thedetails shown are to be taken only by way of example and can be replaced by any other means suitable for the purpose without thereby the scope of the invention being exceeded. By the mention of these details a limitation of the invention to same is not intended.

I claim: a

1. An apparatus for pumping semiviscous materials through a discharge hose, said apparatus comprising a housing'having a working chamber, a hopper mounted on said housing above said chamber,

an intermediate container mounted on said housing below said chamber, said container including a piston mounted for reciprocal movement therein,

a pump cylinder mounted on said housing and having one end connected to said chamber, a piston mounted for reciprocal motion in said cylinder,

a sleeve mounted in said housing for axial movement through said chamber from an inoperative position to an operative position in engagement with said one end of said cylinder, and

means for moving said pistons and said sleeve in timed sequence so that when said sleeve is in the inoperative position and said pump piston is forward, said container piston is retracted and is then moved forward when said pump piston is retracted, (b) then said sleeve is moved to the operative position, and (c) said pump piston is moved forward to eject material from said pump cylinder through said sleeve and hose.

2. An apparatus according to claim I including a casing on said housing for guiding said sleeve into operative engagement with said cylinder.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 including means for vibrating said casing on movement of the semiviscous materials through said sleeve.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said intermediate container is located below said hopper in a perpendicular relation to the axis of said pump cylinder.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 including a second intermediate container connected to said chamber said first and second intermediate containers and said hopper having their axes located in a common plane, said plane being perpendicular to the axis of said pump cylinder.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said pump cylinder is coaxially located with respect to said sleeve.

- 7. The apparatus according to claim 1 including means for closing said sleeve when said sleeve is in the inoperative position.

8. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said casing includes a pair of guide rings positioned to sealingly engage said sleeve and to form a hydraulic cylinder, therebetween said sleeve including a piston head mounted for reciprocal movement in said casing between said guide rings.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein saidmeans for closing said sleeve comprises a closure cone mounted within said casing.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 including a pressure fluid jacket located in a spaced relation to said hopper and means for circulating a fluid under pressure through said jacket.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said means for moving said pistons and said sleeve includes a centrifugal pump operatively connected to said pump cylinder, said intermediate container and said sleeve.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 including a clamping ring located at the entry end of said pump cylinder to sealingly engage said sleeve when said sleeve is moved to the operative position.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sleeve is coaxially mounted with respect to said pump cylinder.

14. The method for conveying of semiviscous materials from a hopper through a working chamber to a conveying pipe, said method including the steps of drawing the semiviscous material from the hopper through the working chamber into an intermediate container, drawing the material from the working chamber into a pump cylinder and simultaneously pumping the material from the container to the working chamber, moving a sleeve through the working chamber into operative engagement with the pump cylinder and pumping the material from the pump cylinder through the sleeve to the conveying pipe and then repeating the steps in sequence.

15. The method according to claim 14 including the steps of drawing material into the pump cylinder in excess of the material supplied from said container, and supplying said cess from said hopper. 

1. An apparatus for pumping semiviscous materials through a discharge hose, said apparatus comprising a housing having a working chamber, a hopper mounted on said housing above said chamber, an intermediate container mounted on said housing below said chamber, said container including a piston mounted for reciprocal movement therein, a pump cylinder mounted on said housing and having one end connected to said chamber, a piston mounted for reciprocal motion in said cylinder, a sleeve mounted in said housing for axial movement through said chamber from an inoperative position to an operative position in engagement with said one end of said cylinder, and means for moving said pistons and said sleeve in timed sequence so that when said sleeve is in the inoperative position and said pump piston is forward, said container piston is retracted and is then moved forward when said pump piston is retracted, (b) then said sleeve is moved to the operative position, and (c) said pump piston is moved forward to eject material from said pump cylinder through said sleeve and hose.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1 including a casing on said housing for guiding said sleeve into operative engagement with said cylinder.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2 including means for vibrating said casing on movement of the semiviscous materials through said sleeve.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said intermediate container is located below said hopper in a perpendicular relation to the axis of said pump cylinder.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1 including a second intermediate container connected to said chamber said first and second intermediate containers and said hopper having their axes located in a common plane, said plane being perpendicular to the axis of said pump cylinder.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said pump cylinder is coaxially located with respect to said sleeve.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 1 including means for closing said sleeve when said sleeve is in the inoperative position.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said casing includes a pair of guide rings positioned to sealingly engage said sleeve and to form a hydraulic cylinder, therebetween said sleeve including a piston head mounted for reciprocal movement in said casing between said guide rings.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said means for closing said sleeve comprises a closure cone mounted within said casing.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 1 including a pressure fluid jacket located in a spaced relation to said hopper and means for circulating a fluid under pressure through said jacket.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said means for moving said pistons and said sleeve includes a centrifugal pump operatively connected to said pump cylinder, said intermediate container and said sleeve.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 1 including a clamping ring located at the entry end of said pump cylinder to sealingly engage said sleeve when said sleeve is moved to the operative position.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sleeve is coaxially mounted with respect to said pump cylinder.
 14. The method for conveying of semiviscous materials from a hopper through a working chamber to a conveying pipe, said method including the steps of drawing the semiviscous material from the hopper through the working chamber into an intermediate container, drawing the material from the working chamber into a pump cylinder and simultaneously pumping the material from the container to the working chamber, moving a sleeve through the working chamber into operative engagement with the pump cylinder and pumping the material from the pump cylinder through the sleeve to the conveying pipe and then repeating the steps in sequence.
 15. The method according to claim 14 including the steps of drawing material into the pump cylinder in excess of the material supplied from said container, and supplying said excess from said hopper. 